food help: I am a 47 yr old Veteran who in the past has run hundreds upon - Help.com

I am not in a position to help you with your specific request, but I just wanted you to know that I really hope a position worthy of your skills and experience is offered soon and you are in my thoughts and prayers.

Go to college and get a degree. That way you time served could really help you. Companies foam at the mouth for people with your experience. You just need to get passed the degree requirement most good jobs have now adays.

Or you could start your own business

You shouldn’t think its said that your kids are more successful than you are, that’s the natural order of things. You sacrifices allow them to reach farther than you could, that’s what is suppose to happen in families.

My guess is that the Parkinsons is getting in the way, more than the lack of a degree. A degree is an entry ticket when we are 22 years old. Beyond that age, what you have to show is experience—and that you have.

The Parkinsons might be offputting to people who don’t understand it. Discriminating against people with a disease is illegal, of course, but no one is going to say that they didn’t hire you because you appeared sick or strange. They will keep that to themselves.

Doesn’t your state have a rehabilitation department that might be able to help you with job placement and “reasonable accommodation?” In Massachusetts, the state rehab bureau pays college tuition for the disabled. What about Americans with Disabilities? Have you tried working through the Veterans Administration? My husband (not disabled, but displaced by technological changes in his field) managed to get career retraining through the VA, as have several other people I know. What about the Department of Employment Security? Certainly there are services available to help place disabled people or people who need retraining.

Failing that, I love Da-11’s idea of starting your own business. Why the heck not? You have leadership experience and a lot of skills you could capitalize on. Maybe the Small Business Administration could help you get started? And almost every community college has courses for business start-ups.

This is one of those situations where it might be necessary to think outside the box, as they say. Good luck!

theresape I disagree about degrees only being important when you 22; in this age of world wide recruitment, internet job shopping, and head hunters. Degrees have become necessary parts of getting a good job. Most companies wont look past a résumé that does not have the proper degree the decided was needed for a job. No matter how much experience one may have.

A lot of older people who came up in an age where degrees where no mandatory but now find themselves out of work are finding it hard to get passed this seemingly needless obstacle. But the obstacle is there and the only way around it is to get a degree. Many people who find themselves in this position are going back to get a degree.

Well, it can’t hurt to get a degree.

Me, when I hire, I look at the experience first.

Mostly I hire writers and designers, and I want to see what they have published. Where they studied, or what degrees they have racked up, is only of passing interest. Generally, by time time someone has worked for me a week, I forget where he or she got the degree. It’s just not relevant.

Obviously, if I were hiring attorneys or medical doctors or engineers, I might feel different!

What about Da-11’s idea of starting your own business? I think it’s really a smart thought. What kind of services could you offer people?

Me, I work full-time as a magazine writer and editor, but I also have get tons of free-lance work doing writing and editing for other clients at $100 per hour.

But you could sell almost any kind of service. Here’s what some of my self-employed friends do. Some of them require a course and certification, but others you could do today. Some of them work alone, while others provide work to other people.

• picking up and delivering things
• contract knitting and embroidery
• inspecting houses for potential buyers
• appraising houses for banks
• appraising antiques
• buying and selling on eBay
• trades work (carpentry, plumbing, painting, masonry, etc.)
• cleaning (residential or industrial, interior or exterior)
• landscaping, exterior design (e.g., mounting residential lighting displays for the holidays)
• cleaning out attics and basements (some of them contract to keep the contents, to resell at flea markets, etc.)
• making and delivering meals or baked goods
• giving advice (business, investment, management, etc.)
• writing, editing, graphic design
• sales and promotion work

This is not meant to be an exhaustive list, nor am I suggesting that you embroider tapestries. It’s just some for-instances meant to get you thinking, “What can I personally do that other people would pay for?”

You could also think about trying to get a small-business loan to purchase an existing operation——either a franchise (that comes with training) or something like a dry-cleaning operation, laundramat, coffee shop, mailing and repro services operation (like Kinko’s or FedEx), gas station, or the like, with high-volume purchases and repeat customers.

Good luck.

papadonto wrote:
I do have a degree…problem is I might as well not…being older has been a challenge as the ” younger crowd” seems to get those positions first.

Most likely because they are willing to do the same job for less. Or at least that is the perception of the person reviewing the job applications.